


Verbose

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [473]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 05:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10269668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: What if McGee and Ducky had met before NCIS through a writing group? What might have been different then?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots) in the [NCIS_Prompts_2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/NCIS_Prompts_2017) collection. 



> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 08/17/2000 for the word [verbose](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2000/08/17/verbose).
> 
> verbose  
> Abounding in words; using or containing more words than are necessary; tedious by an excess of words; wordy; as, "a verbose speaker; a verbose argument."
> 
> This is a bonus drabble(not one of the three I normally post) for Red_Pink_Dots who prompted me through [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/NCIS_Prompts_2017/profile). 
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> Portrait:  
> book that is a portrait of something, describes or represents that thing in a detailed way.
> 
> Timothy McGee & Ducky Mallard
> 
> **End Prompt**
> 
> I hope she likes it.
> 
> As always comments, kudos, and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Prompts are open. More information is available at the end of the work if you want to prompt me yourself.

# 

Verbose

Their co-workers didn't realize it, but Timothy McGee and Ducky Mallard had more in common than anyone would guess. Even before McGee started working at NCIS Headquarters, he’d met Ducky through a writing group that met at a local starbucks. Ducky had long been writing his various tales down on paper for some time in the future when either he forgot them or had a captive audience that wanted to read them all. 

He never planned to get published and release it to the masses. He just wanted to share it with those closest to him that cared about him and about his various experiences. His stories on paper were as verbose as they were when spoken aloud to Gibbs or Tony or any other MCRT team member.

Thom E Gemcity, as he’d introduced himself to Ducky, on the other hand, desired to write a portrait. He wanted to write a book that detailed out a crime solving team solving crimes. He’d always been interested in all the pieces a murderer had to consider if they wanted to stand any chance of not getting caught.

He’d also wanted to look at what an investigator looked for in the ways of clues and how they figured out who committed the crime. He wanted to see how they figured out who was lying and many other things that an investigator did.

His current job at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard did not lend itself to any of these skills, but he’d tried to research and had discussed a number of the details with Ducky after meeting him through the writing group and finding out what he did for a living. Then they discovered a dead body at the naval shipyard and he got to team up with a real team of investigators. It was like a dream come true. 

He was eager to learn as much as he could. He hoped to make a good impression with Agent Gibbs and the rest of the team. He knew if he could join the MCRT that he’d be able to really start to learn how an investigator thought. He’d really be able to give his books the details they needed.

After a few years, he finally felt that he had completed his first portrait and with shaking hands submitted it to a publisher. He was shocked when it was immediately accepted as he’d heard that most writers got rejected multiple times before they were accepted by a publisher. Still, he was excited.

Before he realized it, his first book was a bestseller and he’d made it as a writer which had been his goal all along. Still he continued to work for the MCRT. He knew his dad found being a field agent a more worthy job than being a writer. 

McGee was torn though. He wanted to write full time. Many times he discussed this with Ducky outside of work or with other authors. They all encouraged him to quit, but he just couldn’t give up on his dad’s approval like that.

His turmoil became obvious at work though as he started to feel like he didn’t need this job and his ego grew bigger and bigger. He was no longer eager to learn. His books were selling well and he believed he didn’t need to learn anything more to continue to put out new books.

Still being a field agent on the MCRT had always been the one thing that had made his father proud of him. His father had never been proud of him before. McGee couldn’t give that up, but he spent more and more time writing at work instead of trying to solve the cases and soon his work was slipping and it was obvious to his SFA, Anthony DiNozzo. 

Tony tried to talk to McGee about it, but had no luck. McGee continued to write. Even their new Probie, Ziva, had realized how distracted McGee was. She’d encouraged McGee to turn off the coms while they were collecting voice prints, ostensibly because Tony was too annoying, but really it was so that McGee could concentrate on writing instead.

Still when McGee did his job, he could do the computer work so much better than anyone else that he was allowed to get away with this. After Ziva left and Bishop joined the team, McGee seemed to realize how unprofessional he was being and he worked harder. Finally Tony left and McGee got his chance to be SFA.

It was like all his dreams had come true. His father was enormously proud of him and he had more money than he knew what to do with from his books. Of course, Tony had made the job seem easy and now McGee found he barely had time to write let alone enjoy any of his money.

Ducky became a fast confidant for him. He needed someone who understood how he was so torn in what to do and what to focus on. Ducky though had never been one of those people who told someone what to do. He vastly preferred giving them the clues and pushing them towards figuring out what they wanted themselves.

Many late nights were spent conversing with Ducky about the pros and cons and still he didn’t know if he wanted to be a writer or an SFA. He’d written so many books now, his publishers considered him prolific and were pushing him to stop working and focus entirely on writing. He kept pushing back, but it was becoming exceedingly stressful between his publishers and Gibbs’ expectations. 

McGee began to wonder how much longer it would be until he cracked. It used to be that Tony kept the stress contained and the environment while not stress free, at least, still fun and enjoyable. McGee had never learned how to do that. He did other things instead, but that meant his stress level was rocketing through the roof.

His conversations with Ducky weren’t helping. He was still confused as to what he should do. Then it happened. They caught a case with a kidnapped child. In fact, there had been multiple kidnapped children over the years and they were trying to find this one before it was too late.

They failed. McGee wasn’t sure what they missed, but he couldn’t take it anymore. Finally, he took the easy way out and quit NCIS. He would write for a living instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts are currently open. If you'd like to prompt me, please do so [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/NCIS_Prompts_2017/profile). Note you have to be an ao3 member to do this. 
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes.
> 
> This is a new thing I'm trying, so please leave feedback here if you think it could be improved.


End file.
